Incoming prime minister Anthony Albanese yesterday vowed to end Australia’s reputation as a climate laggard and reset relations with the rest of the world, as he raced to form a government in time for a key Tokyo summit.

Ukraine ruled out a ceasefire or any territorial concessions to Moscow while Russia intensified its attack in the east and south and stopped sending gas to Finland in its latest response to Western sanctions.

The Ukraine war looms large as the World Health Organization opens its main annual assembly yesterday, threatening to overshadow efforts on other health crises and a reform push aimed at preventing future pandemics.

When the pandemic forced schools into remote learning, Washington-area science teacher Rebecca Bushway set her students an ambitious task: design and build a low-cost lead filter that fixes to faucets and removes the toxic metal.

Australia’s election has brought in a wave of Greens and independents pushing for aggressive targets to cut carbon emissions, who will pressure the incoming Labor government to step up its climate plans if it wants to pass any legislation.

Saudi Arabia has banned its citizens from travelling to 16 countries following the re-outbreak of Covid-19. These include Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, India, Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, Indonesia, Vietnam, Armenia, Belarus and Venezuela.

Before President Joe Biden left South Korea for Japan yesterday, he offered a brief message to Kim Jong Un, whose nuclear sabre-rattling has risked overshadowing the US leader’s first Asia trip: “Hello. Period.”

Ukraine ruled out a ceasefire or concessions to Moscow while Russia intensified an offensive in the eastern Donbas region and stopped providing gas to Finland, as Polish President Andrzej Duda prepared to address the Ukrainian parliament on Sunday.

Thousands gathered for a rally in Istanbul on Saturday to protest the conviction of leading Turkish opposition politician Canan Kaftancioglu for insulting the president and the state.

Israel on Saturday reported its first confirmed case of monkeypox, which officials expected would be contained.

Australia’s Labor Party was set to end almost a decade of conservative rule as the government was swept away in yesterday’s election by a wave of support for candidates who campaigned for more action on climate change and may hold the balance of power.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday congratulated Anthony Albanese on his election as Australia’s new leader, vowing to work together on trade, military ties and climate change.

Former US President Donald Trump has paid a $110,000 fine for obstructing a major tax evasion investigation led since 2019 by New York state authorities, a spokesperson announced Friday.

More than 50 US lawmakers have called on the FBI to investigate the killing in the West Bank of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, despite Israeli promises of a probe.

The UN rights chief came under fire for announcing a visit next week to China’s Xinjiang, with the United States saying she was failing to stand up for the region’s Uyghur community.

The World Health Organization was holding an emergency meeting yesterday to discuss the recent outbreak of monkeypox, a viral infection more common to west and central Africa, after over 100 cases were confirmed or suspected in Europe.

President Joe Biden and his new South Korean counterpart yesterday agreed to hold bigger military drills and deploy more US weapons if necessary to deter North Korea, while offering to send Covid-19 vaccines and potentially meet Kim Jong Un.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday warned that only a diplomatic breakthrough rather than an outright military victory could end Russia’s war on his country, as Moscow cut gas supplies to Finland.

Russia stopped providing gas to Finland in an escalation of a row over energy payments with the West on Saturday, and intensified an offensive in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

Anthony Albanese, who is set to be Australia's next prime minister, is a pragmatic leader from a working-class background who has pledged to end divisions in the country.